TERRIFIED staff at a Romiley bank were confronted with an armed gang wielding a manhole cover and an axe.

Masked raiders burst into the Halifax in Romiley precinct at 11.30am on Monday.

They were all wearing balaclavas and two of them were wearing luminous workmen's jackets with Totty written on the back.

The robbers kicked the door to the bank down, which is normally controlled by a buzzer mechanism, and smashed the security screen with the metal manhole cover they were carrying.

Luckily the petrified cashier had managed to escape by the time the thugs had crashed their way through the security window and they were forced to flee empty-handed.

The raiders escaped in a silver W-reg, stolen Subaru Impreza, complete with false plates, which had been stolen from a house in Woodley on June 5. It was later found abandoned in North Reddish on Monday.

Det Chief Insp Mark Webster said: "These offenders caused extensive damage during their entry to the bank even though they didn't actually get away with anything."

"We are primarily interested in witnesses to the actual offence itself and also anyone else who has seen that car between the date it was stolen and the date it was used in this crime and then abandoned."

"No-one was injured in this attack, but people were very shocked and an ambulance was sent to see if everyone was OK. We do have a number of lines of enquiry."

One of the offenders is described as black and the others were white.

Anyone with any information is asked to contact police as soon as possible on 856 9740 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.